Garrard Type A In AMAZING Condition

I love these old Garrards but I have no ideas people love them so much now
I have 2 I would like out of my way sometimes to make space for something else a Mk II and an all white A
The Mark II was a one owner machine I have the base and footers and the never find it bubble dust cover and manual it came with Stanton 500
Machine is mint condition but I want for 78s the full automatic drags probably flat idler I serviced machine to use and try plays well just slows too much through automatic
White Type A complete but no plinth bought from old console some idiot crammed it in dirty but perfect I love the looks of it very 1950s came with M3D I sold off quickly for $75 quick deal no decent stylus to be found
When I brought these home no one pay $50 for one?

OP the machine you buy is lovely I have one just as nice! ;) but not all your fantastic documentation I may have had receipt for it or Empire cart can't remember but can't find
This thread took me to the other about 880 Empire I have brand new S880PE but no Empire :no:


Wow, you've got one of those bubble dust covers. I saw a picture of on somewhere. It reminds me of the bubbles that they put on double decker buses! I'm not sure which one is taller! :D

Yeah, I can imagine getting these tables must problematic. I know of a couple of AK members who had issues with them. But they're just such distinct and unique tables, that I think just HAVING one is great. They are really a piece of audio history.

Thanks for your comments.
 
Wow, you've got one of those bubble dust covers. I saw a picture of on somewhere. It reminds me of the bubbles that they put on double decker buses! I'm not sure which one is taller! :D

Yeah, I can imagine getting these tables must problematic. I know of a couple of AK members who had issues with them. But they're just such distinct and unique tables, that I think just HAVING one is great. They are really a piece of audio history.

Thanks for your comments.

Hello!
Not problematic just they do not enjoy enough of my love to receive complete restoration just fundamental lubrication to allow assessment of machine's abilities at this point before I see people paying three franklins so have been shelf queens Maybe I will love them more! They are beautiful vestige of British Empire
Yes the dust covers are extremely rare have seen idiots paying 100s
Reason? Original Garrard dust covers look like packing material to 1960s American consumer eyes very crude flexible plastic likely some state of the art achievement for 1959-1960 no dust cover consciousness back then! I am lucky mine is new Dust cover trump paperwork? :tongue:
So all were thrown away
 
Yes the dust covers are extremely rare have seen idiots paying 100s
Reason? Original Garrard dust covers look like packing material to 1960s American consumer eyes very crude flexible plastic likely some state of the art achievement for 1959-1960 no dust cover consciousness back then! I am lucky mine is new Dust cover trump paperwork? :tongue:
So all were thrown away

I kept mine. :D
 
I have a beat up cover on one of my Lab 80's. Definitely cheap and flimsy but its cool to have.
 
And thanks for clarifying that. I also wonder - although the information may be on the forum in the archives - if there is any difference in the Pickering carts, let's say from a V15 to a V15 II?

Not sure, but it might be just the stylus. There are quite a few different V15 versions. The Type I version is the one with the beige body. Maybe mid '60's until the early '70's? Something like that. Earlier than the black-bodied Shures with the lightning bolt on the front. Those Type I's are the frigging bomb for '60's music like psychedelic-rock, Motown, girl-groups, folk, blues, and jazz.

The one I have is the V15/AMS-1. I don't know if the -1 is for TYPE 1 or not, but the beige ones definitely have a lot of mojo. Great for music that needs some slam. The V15 has a fat upper-bass and good PRaT. A very-musical cartridge that you would surely want for playing Beatles.
 
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The V15 is just the body. There are a pile of different styluses you could get for them. They came in several colors too. I actually currently own a tan, a light blue, and a black one and I formerly owned one that was a cream color. I don't know that the colors mean much of anything other than it may have had something to do with what stylus it came with originally. The model number on the sticker tells you that too. My light blue one is a V15/AC3, which was a heavy tracking conical. I replaced that with a much lighter elliptical.
 
What is the rebranded Radio Sack cart supposed to be? I know they sold rebranded ("BRANDED!!") Shure carts, but I didn't recognize the model #.

Love that Type A by the way. I run a Pickering V15 Type I on my 1019. A great cart for '60's LP's as well as certain LP's that maybe need a heavier tracking force to wake them up. Whatever the case, there are certain post-1970 LP's that don't sound right with the M91/Jico SAS and yet sound perfect with the Pickering V15 (like my Muddy Waters "Hard Again" LP and my "Jeff Beck Group" LP, not to mention Deep Purple's "Machine Head"). The V15 has lots of life to it. A very-tubelike sound that goes well with tube gear and old tube-cut LP's.

I just got a sweet LP that was made for the Pickering... The Stones' "Let It Bleed", US London stereo first-pressing (to replace my copy that got screwed).

Yeah GT, the R25XT is a rebranded Shure cart. Here is a thread in which Marc Morin comments to that effect:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=482658

And its interesting how some of my records sound better on the Garrard and some sound better on my AR XB. My Fisher only has one phono jack. It would be nice to have two!
 
Not sure, but it might be just the stylus. There are quite a few different V15 versions. The Type I version is the one with the beige body. Maybe mid '60's until the early '70's? Something like that. Earlier than the black-bodied Shures with the lightning bolt on the front. Those Type I's are the frigging bomb for '60's music like psychedelic-rock, Motown, girl-groups, folk, blues, and jazz.

The one I have is the V15/AMS-1. I don't know if the -1 is for TYPE 1 or not, but the beige ones definitely have a lot of mojo. Great for music that needs some slam. The V15 has a fat upper-bass and good PRaT. A very-musical cartridge that you would surely want for playing Beatles.

Right, there definitely are a lot of V15 cartridges. A good friend of mine is going to give me a V-15/AT-2. I don't know how that stacks up (pardon the pun!) vis-à-vis the other V-15s. But I'm certainly going to give it shot. I might also replace the old leads in the headshell. That is supposed to improve the sound also.
 
Hello!
Not problematic just they do not enjoy enough of my love to receive complete restoration just fundamental lubrication to allow assessment of machine's abilities at this point before I see people paying three franklins so have been shelf queens Maybe I will love them more! They are beautiful vestige of British Empire

The Garrard Type A isn't necessarily the last word in turntables, but it's it a helluva a lot of fun!! I don't know what amps or receivers you've run it with, or with what speakers, etc. But I'm telling you, the Type A has a nice big sound. I've been running it with a Fisher 800B through (mainly) my Wharfedale W60 along with another speaker until I find that other blasted W60. The mids are great with vocals and instruments really up front. There is a nice overall warmth and presence.

As far being problematic, I've heard that idler tables in general, from Dual to Garrard, are quite involved to work with. So much so, that I know a couple of people who actually finally got rid of their Type A's.
 
Just got a little more info on the Garrard, from the ebay seller. It apparently belonged to an elderly gentleman. It was his original table, but he had others. He liked to switch. :thmbsp:

I wonder if he could be here somewhere on Audiokarma!
 
The Garrard Type A isn't necessarily the last word in turntables, but it's it a helluva a lot of fun!! I don't know what amps or receivers you've run it with, or with what speakers, etc. But I'm telling you, the Type A has a nice big sound. I've been running it with a Fisher 800B through (mainly) my Wharfedale W60 along with another speaker until I find that other blasted W60. The mids are great with vocals and instruments really up front. There is a nice overall warmth and presence.

As far being problematic, I've heard that idler tables in general, from Dual to Garrard, are quite involved to work with. So much so, that I know a couple of people who actually finally got rid of their Type A's.

Yeah, the phono preamp in those Fishers is a lot nicer than certain folks were giving them credit, and that phono section likely works best with idler-driven tables (or certainly tables in general from that same '60's era as the Fisher). My Dual 1019 is also a great match for the old Fishers. That phono section nails that old-school '60's vinyl sound, so the Type A is right at home.

What carts have you tried with it so far?

(Sorry... Was away from this thread for a while)
 
I just posted an update on my W60s really opening up. I just wanted to add that I also tracked my Pickering V15 AT-2 a little higher on a suggestion by my buddy Ilikevinyl. I probably had it tracked at around 3 grams before. Now it is a little higher (not even sure exactly how much, because the Shure stylus gauge only takes you up to 3 grams). It might be around 4 grams give or take.

I am getting much clearer highs. The Pickering is a low compliance cart suited for the high mass tonearm of the Garrard Type A, and can handle the heavier VTF. And the conical stylus won't dig into the grooves too much to do any damage to my records. All of this also jibes with some of the info I got on a thread I just put up asking about the Shure M7D, where it was suggested to use the M7D with a tracking force as high as 4.5 grams.

I really have to say - the synergy between the turntable, my W60's really beginning to come into their own with a recent recap, and my Sony6060-restored Fisher 800B is REALLY coming together. A recent thread I also posted about possibly considering a phono preamp really now, is no longer relevant.
 
I really have to say - the synergy between the turntable, my W60's really beginning to come into their own with a recent recap, and my Sony6060-restored Fisher 800B is REALLY coming together. A recent thread I also posted about possibly considering a phono preamp really now, is no longer relevant.

Very cool Gannon! I bet it sounds great, Sony6060's next level Fisher mods are works of art for sure. If it sounds half as good as it did on my pre-recapped w90's then you have hit the synergy jackpot! :thmbsp:

:music:
 
Very cool Gannon! I bet it sounds great, Sony6060's next level Fisher mods are works of art for sure. If it sounds half as good as it did on my pre-recapped w90's then you have hit the synergy jackpot! :thmbsp:

:music:


Yeah Tyler, I just sent him an email regarding the speakers. I'm telling you - the mids and the soundstage are just getting more unbelievable by the day. I wasn't sure after they were first recapped, if the caps made that much of a difference - but I hadn't run my system enough. I've really been running it a lot lately, and the sound, I have to say, truly is stunning. Just BIG and OPEN...

And then I tracked my cart better, and that has helped a lot. But the sound I'm getting on CDs with the Fisher and the W60's is also blossoming.

Wow, so it looks like he's going to install his TA-800 mod in your Fisher 500B. Would love to hear that.

You know, I would have to say...I think a lot of people would be surprised to hear the synergy of a vintage system. When I first got the Type A, Sony said, "now you'll get a chance to see what you've really got" (regarding the Fisher, the table, and the speakers). With the speaker recap, the Pickering stylus that Ilikevinyl gave me (installed by jleon92), and now setting this VTF a little better...Sony was right.
 
I always set the tracking force towards the top of the cartridge manufacturer's force range. It always sounds the best! Especially the high frequencies. Too low of force and they sound distorted. Tracking will also improve too!
 
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